A courtyard house; Li Yunlong, a subordinate of the deputy director of Harbin Military Engineering I

The two brothers met again after twenty years. Zhang Rende held Zhang Renfeng's hand tightly, his hand trembling violently.

He stared at the broad-shouldered, thick-backed People's Liberation Army officer in front of him for a long time, his lips drooping down, and tears streamed down his face. He slumped down like a deflated balloon, and if Zhang Renfeng hadn't been supporting his arm, he would have sat down on the ground.

"Renfeng... Renfeng..." Zhang Rende's throat was constricted, his voice hoarse like sandpaper scraping against sheet metal, "I thought you were long gone..."

Zhang Renfeng's eyes were red as he patted his elder brother's back: "Brother, I'm tough, I won't die. I was only ten years old when I left with the old political commissar. I started as a messenger and fought my whole life. Bullets always avoided me, and explosives never hit me. Don't cry, you're not that old."

"So what if I cry? Can't I cry because my brother is still alive?" Zhang Rende wiped his face haphazardly with his sleeve, laughing and crying at the same time. "Back then, you were a dark-skinned boy, running barefoot on the ridges of the fields, chasing dogs and chickens..."

The two brothers stood at the gate of the courtyard, looking at each other and laughing like two idiots for a long time.

After being separated for so many years, each of us thought the other was dead. Now that they are standing alive in front of each other, the grave we built in our hearts all those years has collapsed in an instant.

At this moment, a woman walked in from the gate of the courtyard, followed by two children, a boy of fourteen or fifteen years old and a girl of four or five years old.

The woman was startled by the sight.

She was short, with a round face, short hair that reached her ears, and wearing a blue cloth jacket with an apron tied around her waist. It looked like she had just come back from buying groceries.

She saw her husband standing at the gate of the courtyard with a People's Liberation Army officer in a rank overcoat, crying and laughing at the same time, and her face turned pale instantly.

She knew about her husband's past; he had worked for the Guangxi clique back then. What if the People's Liberation Army came after them?

"Oh dear!" Zhang Rende slapped his thigh, released his grip on Zhang Renfeng's hand, turned around and waved to the woman, "Xiuhua, don't be afraid, this is Renfeng! My younger brother, Zhang Renfeng, the younger brother I told you about!"

The woman stood frozen in place, nearly dropping the vegetable basket she was carrying: "Ren... Renfeng? Didn't you say... didn't you say..."

"Not dead! Alive! Alright!" Zhang Rende's voice rose, his face beaming with a wide smile. "Look at him, what a physique, what an air of confidence! He's made something of himself!"

Zhang Renfeng took two steps forward and nodded politely to the woman: "Sister-in-law, I am Renfeng. I was only ten years old when my elder brother was conscripted. Later, we lost our home, so I followed the Red Army. The organization found me last night and said my brother is alive..."

Mu Xiuhua then came to her senses, looking Zhang Renfeng up and down, muttering, "Oh my, he really looks like him, just like your older brother when he was young, only taller and with broader shoulders..."

She turned and waved to the two children behind her, "Guilin, Yulin, come here quickly and call your second uncle."

Two children peeked out from behind Mu Xiuhua.

The boy was fourteen or fifteen years old, already quite tall, around 1.7 meters, with a long, thin face. His eyebrows and eyes resembled Zhang Rende's more, and his gaze held a mixture of curiosity and wariness.

The girl was only four or five years old, with two little pigtails, a round face, and big, bright eyes. She hid behind her brother, peeking at Zhang Renfeng with half her face showing.

"This is your eldest nephew, Zhang Guilin, and the little girl is Zhang Yulin." Zhang Rende pointed to the two children and waved to them, "You two, quickly call him your second uncle."

Zhang Guilin spoke first, straightening up and calling out like an adult, "Second Uncle."

Zhang Yulin hid behind his brother, tilting his head and staring at Zhang Renfeng for a while, then suddenly giggled: "Dad, have you noticed? My brother looks just like Second Uncle."

Zhang Renfeng looked at Zhang Guilin beside him. Although the boy was only fourteen years old, he was already 1.7 meters tall. In this era, to grow up like that, one could only say that the food was indeed quite good.

He looked down at Zhang Yulin, then pulled a handful of candy from his pocket. "Yulin, right? Here, have some candy."

Zhang Yulin hesitated for a moment, then reached out his chubby little hand to take the candy. "Thank you, Second Uncle."

Zhang Renfeng chuckled and patted her head: "Guilin, Yulin, well, they're both place names from our Guilin province. Your dad even thought of our hometown when naming her."

Zhang Guilin took a half step closer, looking at the pistol at Zhang Renfeng's waist with curiosity in his eyes, while still maintaining an adult's air: "Second Uncle, you're in the People's Liberation Army, which unit are you in?"

Zhang Rende yanked his son away: "Go away, don't go asking around."

He turned and pulled Zhang Renfeng's arm, leading him into the courtyard. Hideaki Oki said, "Hideaki, cook, cook. Get my briefcase out; Renfeng and I want to have a good drink. Years ago, after I was wounded, it was your sister-in-law who saved me in Henan. It's a long story..."

Zhang Rende noticed a young man carrying a sack standing outside the courtyard and asked:

"Who is this young comrade?"

Zhang Renfeng turned around and glanced at her: "Sun Bing, introduce yourself."

Upon hearing the commander's words, Sun Bing snapped to attention and saluted, his voice booming, "Hello, uncles and aunties! My name is Sun Bing, from Handong. I'm Commander Zhang's bodyguard."

Zhang Rende almost choked on his water when he heard "Commander!"

He was also a veteran of the old army and knew the weight of the word "commander".

He turned his head and looked his younger brother up and down, his heart filled with turmoil.

The two children didn't understand these things. Zhang Guilin was still thinking about the 50,000 troops, but Mu Xiuhua did.

She tightened her grip on the vegetable basket, muttering, "Commander..."

Zhang Rende reacted, grabbed Zhang Renfeng's hand, his palm burning hot: "Commander... how much suffering did you have to endure to become the commander of the Red Army..." As he spoke, tears welled up in his eyes again.

This is the difference between a knowledgeable person and an inexperienced one.

Only those who have served in the military and survived countless battles know the weight of the saying, "One general's success is built on the bones of ten thousand."

Back when Zhang Rende was in the Guangxi clique, he saw too many people climb up the ladder, stepping on other people's heads to get there, only to fall down in the blink of an eye.

His younger brother, a boy who joined the Red Army at the age of ten, managed to rise all the way to the rank of commander. How many times must he have rolled around in piles of dead bodies?

"Not commander, but army commander!" Zhang Renfeng corrected him with a smile, patting his elder brother's hand. "This month, the entire army was reorganized. Columns were changed to armies. Before, they were called commanders; now they're called army commanders."

Zhang Guilin, with his sharp ears, immediately interjected, "I know, I know! The People's Liberation Army used to be columns, but it has been reorganized into armies. They used to be called commanders, but now they are called army commanders."

Second Uncle, how many men do you have in your army? Do you have at least 20,000?

His eyes sparkled, like a child waiting to hear a story. What boy doesn't dream of becoming a general?

Zhang Rende glared at his son: "What are you asking about, you little brat?"

But he himself was also listening intently, waiting for an answer.

In his limited understanding of the old army, during the Central Plains War, a division under Li Zongren had at most ten thousand men, while some miscellaneous troops with seven or eight thousand men could be called a division.

The PLA should have a similar configuration, right?

Seeing the identical expressions on the faces of the father and son, Zhang Renfeng didn't keep them in suspense any longer and casually said, "Three divisions, plus the division's directly subordinate units, about fifty thousand men."

The father and son both opened their mouths wide at the same time, unable to close them for a long time.

Zhang Rende swallowed hard: "Fifty thousand? That's at least three armies. Is the People's Liberation Army really that powerful?"

It's no wonder the older brother was surprised.

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Eighth Route Army had already grown wildly, with some divisions reaching 30,000 men. With the addition of the Liberation War, there were also many recruits. If you had a political commissar who was good at getting things done, you could probably raise the army to 50,000 or 60,000 men.

If it weren't for some form of control, Zhang Renfeng could have expanded to 80,000 or 90,000 people.

He was a versatile talent in both military and political affairs. He was known for his prowess in ideological work within the Chen-Xie Corps. During the suppression of bandits in the Funiu Mountains, he alone mobilized nearly 20,000 young people to join the army.

Zhang Renfeng gave a general account of the situation over the past few years, from the Seventh Red Army to the Third Red Army Corps, from the War of Resistance against Japan to the War of Liberation, glossing over it in a few words, without mentioning a single word about the battles in between where the soldiers were on the verge of death.

But Zhang Rende was a man from the military, and he understood what was hidden beneath his brother's seemingly casual words.

I heard about Zhang Yunyi, Wei Baqun, Li Tianyou, Wei Jie... These are all from the Guangxi Uprising?

"No wonder, no wonder you succeeded."

Zhang Rende wiped away his tears, a bitter smile on his face. "You represent the people. Back when I was in the Guangxi clique, I saw too many officials who only knew how to exploit the people, rob women, and embezzle salaries. The soldiers couldn't be paid, while the officers kept multiple wives and concubines. No wonder that kind of army couldn't win."

"No wonder the micro-management master failed; it's a rotten piece of junk."

"A micro-management master? That's the transport team leader!"

Zhang Renfeng added a comment, and the two brothers exchanged a glance and laughed at the same time.

Mu Xiuhua busied herself for almost half an hour, bringing out several dishes.

Limited resources, but the effort put into it: a pot of stewed cabbage with vermicelli, a bowl of stir-fried shredded pork with pickled vegetables, a plate of scrambled eggs, and a dish of peanuts.

The Zhang family hadn't lived a wealthy life in Beiping all these years, but Zhang Rende was a senior fitter, earning a monthly salary much higher than that of ordinary workers, so they managed to get by.

"This is my own homemade 'briefcase' liquor. I put fruit in it, so it's potent. The stronger the wind, the higher the alcohol content." Zhang Rende took out a jar of liquor.

The two brothers sat down, and Zhang Rende poured himself and Zhang Renfeng each a bowl of briefcase-shaped soup, and also poured a bowl for Sun Bing.

Sun Bing looked at the murky liquid in the bowl, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Commander... I still have to stand guard..."

"What are you standing guard for! Sit down and eat!" Zhang Renfeng waved his hand at him. "This is my older brother's house, not the front lines. Relax."

Sun Bing then sat down.

Zhang Guilin sat next to Zhang Renfeng, secretly glancing at the pistol on his second uncle's waist while eating. Zhang Renfeng noticed and smiled, "What, want to touch the gun?"

Zhang Guilin nodded vigorously. Zhang Rende slammed his fist on the table opposite him: "No way! What are kids doing touching guns!"

Zhang Renfeng unbuckled his belt, pulled out his pistol, removed the magazine, and handed it to Zhang Guilin: "Take a look, just don't pull the trigger." Zhang Guilin took it with both hands, examining it as if it were a precious treasure, and exclaimed "Wow!"

Zhang Yulin sat in Mu Xiuhua's lap, a candy in his mouth, and mumbled, "Brother, let me see."

"Go away, you don't understand." Zhang Guilin tucked the gun into his chest, and Zhang Yulin pouted unhappily.

Zhang Renfeng laughed heartily and reached out to pat Zhang Yulin's little pigtail: "Yulin, don't be angry. When your second uncle comes next time, I'll bring you a small toy gun that can be cocked and fired."

Zhang Yulin then smiled again.

Zhang Rende raised his wine bowl and clinked it against Zhang Renfeng's, then tilted his head back and took a large gulp. Wiping the wine stains from his mouth, he let out a long sigh: "Renfeng, I never dreamed I'd live to see you drink with me again. All these years, I've burned paper money for you every Qingming Festival..."